{"id":8147,"date":"2019-11-07T17:17:19","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T16:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biteno.com\/en\/?p=8147"},"modified":"2019-11-08T14:35:14","modified_gmt":"2019-11-08T13:35:14","slug":"privacy-and-security-checklist-for-wordpress-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biteno.com\/en\/privacy-and-security-checklist-for-wordpress-website\/","title":{"rendered":"Privacy and security checklist for WordPress website"},"content":{"rendered":"

WordPress<\/a> is among the most popular content management systems (CMS)<\/strong> due to its user-friendly nature and the amount of freedom it offers to web developers. More than a third of the top 10 million websites use WordPress for these reasons.<\/p>\n

Its popularity has its downsides, however. The vast majority of the security vulnerabilities<\/a> inherent in WordPress is shared across every website that uses it. This means that if WordPress encounters an issue, millions of websites also face that issue\u2014and yours could be one of them.<\/p>\n

As such, we\u2019ve compiled a handy privacy and security checklist<\/strong> for you to check over when you\u2019re building your WordPress website. We\u2019re going to talk about virtual private networks in the process, so if you want to learn more beforehand, including why VPN is beneficial,<\/a><\/u> you can check some reviews.<\/p>\n

#1 \u2013 Usernames and passwords<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"It\u2019s common knowledge that if a hacker knows your username and password, then it\u2019s easy for them to access your accounts. This goes for everything, not just WordPress; if you reuse passwords<\/a> across various accounts (which you definitely shouldn\u2019t), then a hacker only needs to compromise one of your accounts before they can get into your WordPress account.<\/p>\n

If you aren\u2019t careful, you can make this a ridiculously easy process for hackers. WordPress automatically the username on new accounts to \u2018admin,\u2019 which means a hacker then only needs to figure out what your password is and they\u2019re in.<\/p>\n

Basically, as soon as you create your WordPress account, be sure to change the \u2018admin\u2019 login to something more difficult to guess<\/strong>. Otherwise you might as well hand your data over to a hacker and save them the trouble.<\/p>\n

#2 \u2013 Don\u2019t ignore updates<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s can be almost like a knee-jerk reaction to ignore updates<\/strong>. They take up time when you\u2019d rather just be getting on with some work. But just because they\u2019re bad for productivity in the short term doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re bad for business in the long term.<\/p>\n

Quite the opposite, in fact. Updates are usually issued every few months to ensure software is up to date in terms of its security vulnerabilities<\/a><\/u>. Software researchers are always on the hunt for new vulnerabilities, and updates are versions of existing software that patch any vulnerabilities they might have found.<\/p>\n

The same goes for\u00a0plugins,<\/strong> as these can create sneaky backdoor entrances to your WordPress site. As a rule, you should never ignore updates, because if a software researcher has found vulnerabilities in the code, there\u2019s a chance a hacker has, too.<\/p>\n

#3 \u2013 Google Search Console<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Look, we all know Google isn\u2019t the best for respecting data privacy, but in this instance, they\u2019re actually really useful. Enabling the Google Search Console gives you an easy way to create a search function<\/strong> on your WordPress blog, but there are also other benefits that make it good for security.<\/p>\n

Because Google are constantly amending their index and blacklisting malware-infected websites, they use their Search Console to run checks on attached WordPress sites to ensure they\u2019re totally clean<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

While this sounds hideously invasive, Google actually comes through: the Search Console informs you of hacks<\/a><\/u> as and when they happen. If you\u2019re in the habit of storing backups\u2014which you definitely should be\u2014then you can revert to an older version of your WordPress site in order to lock the hacker out of the system entirely.<\/p>\n

#4 \u2013 Use a VPN<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"As we mentioned earlier, a great way to secure your WordPress site against invasive hack attacks is to use a VPN. These handy tools reroute your IP connection to a private server<\/strong> so you can keep your identity much more private online.<\/p>\n

Better yet, a good VPN service will also provide an encryption service<\/strong> to make sure that, even in the case of man-in-the-middle attacks, there\u2019s very little chance a bad actor could intercept the data you\u2019re sending across the network.<\/p>\n

The best VPN services will offer impenetrable encryption ciphers to ensure your data is locked down tight. The one to look out for is the AES-256-bit model, which is the same cipher the US government use.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When you\u2019re building a new WordPress site, privacy<\/strong> and security<\/strong> should be among your main priorities. After all, before the site is properly up and running, you\u2019re in a position where your site isn\u2019t fully functional, which is a haven for hackers.<\/p>\n

Although each of the steps we\u2019ve mentioned are essentials, it\u2019s worth remembering that working through a VPN really is the best and most comprehensive way of ensuring that no bad actors can ever get a hold of your personal data. It keeps your WordPress site locked tight under wraps, and for as long as you keep your VPN, that\u2019s the way it\u2019ll stay.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WordPress is among the most popular content management systems (CMS) due to its user-friendly nature and the amount of freedom it offers to web developers. More than a third of the top 10 million websites use WordPress for these reasons. Its popularity has its downsides, however. The vast majority of the security vulnerabilities inherent in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":8149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4110,1],"tags":[243,4573,149,295],"class_list":["post-8147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-websites","category-misc","tag-security","tag-updates","tag-vpn","tag-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biteno.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biteno.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biteno.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biteno.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biteno.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biteno.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biteno.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biteno.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biteno.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biteno.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}